1. Field of the Disclosure
This disclosure pertains in general to communications, and more specifically to bandwidth acquisition in a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Contention-based channel access mechanisms have been adopted widely. In a contention-based network, a network node such as a station, an access point, or a personal basic service set control point is required to perform DCF (Distributed Coordination Function). That is, a network node contends for the channel after a random back off period. Other stations in the network, by observing the packet, can update their local information of the channel occupancy (e.g., using a Network Allocation Vector (NAV)). Nevertheless, stations may not detect each other and send out packets to the same or another destination at the same time, resulting in collision of packets. In addition, it may be difficult to handle traffic of different priorities without causing any delays. For example, video traffic faces stringent constraints on delays and jitters. A station contending for a channel to send video packets may not be able to obtain the channel when other stations are also contending for the channel to send data at the same time. Video packets, when not sent on time, cannot comply with the timing requirements and may cause disturbance in video display. User experience, as a result, is negatively affected and disrupted.